34: AGREE FIRST AND ASK QUESTIONS LATER

"I'd be Sad if You were Gone," by SLCHLD

                In, out, in, out.

                Jimin could hear his heavy breaths push out of his lungs win his back slammed against that wall. He thought, perhaps a little belatedly, that he shouldn’t have sneaked into Jae-Dong just to catch a glimpse of the graduating class. Sentiment was going to be the death of him.

                Jimin craned his neck to try to see over the corner, but someone had grabbed from the other side and flung him to the floor.

                “Thought you lost us?”

                Jimin pushed himself up, only to be kicked back to the ground. He glared up at Juyoung and the other iljin who had quickly caught up with him and were surrounding him now. Juyoung was still wearing his graduation robes, and his hat was tucked carelessly into his belt.

                “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone more cowardly than you,” sneered Jimin, looking up at them with dark eyes. “Why don’t you just fix your own problems instead of beating me up? You’re only going to make things worse.”

                “Oh, you’ve already done that for us, haven’t you?”

                “What’re you—”

                “I heard Buk Gil Pa is headed here. Here! In Seoul!” Juyoung bent down and pinched the boy’s cheek, shaking his head around by the piece of flesh squeezed between his fingers. “Jimin-ah, that’s not so good, don’t you know? That won’t make me happy. It definitely won’t make my father happy. None of us want to see that.”

                Jimin smacked the hand away. “Like I care.”

                “Oh, you should care,” said Juyoung, standing up straight again. “If you still care about your friends. And that girl.”

                “Well, I don’t care about them. I haven’t talked to any of them in weeks—” Jimin cut himself off, eyes spanning over the crowd surrounding him. He looked again. And again. “Wait. Where’s Jungkook?”

                Several of the others smirked, an Jimin’s face fell.

                “So he’s too scared to show up at graduation? What did you do to him?”

                “Oh, he came to graduation.”

                “What?”

                Before anyone could stop him, Jimin had jumped up and pushed pass the crowd of boys and ran down the hallway. For a moment it seemed like they would chase him again, but visitors for graduation had started leaving the auditorium, and soon there would be a crowd between him and the iljin.

                “Jungkook-ah!” called Jimin, running down the hallways. “Jungkook-ah!”

                He began flinging open classroom doors and peering inside, looking behind desks, under tables. Soon he was looking in closets too. Then bathrooms.

                “Jungkookie!”

                Jimin stopped running and bent over, panting. His eyes were burning. Don’t cry. Don’t be a weakling. You’re already so useless. Jimin had been to every floor of the school and was back on the first one, hoping that he had somehow missed a spot. His steps were growing heavier.

                “Where are you?”

                At the end of the hallway, something made Jimin stop. He turned around, tipping his head. There was sound, coming from somewhere. He retraced his steps, treading gently and listening carefully. It was the sound of someone groaning. From the breaker room.

                The door was flung open as Jimin rushed in to find Jungkook on the floor, pushed against the base of a generator, bloody and breathing shallowly. He didn’t respond to the door opening, and didn’t look up at Jimin when he entered. He was on the edge of unconsciousness.

                “Aish what did they do? What did they do to you?” muttered Jimin, his voice tight. He clambered into the little space and locked his arms under Jungkook’s to pull the boy out. Finally, Jungkook’s cloudy eyes opened a little, and he looked up with confusion.

                “Jiminie-hyung?”

                “Yah, you can’t even recognize me anymore? Were you just going to ignore me forever?”

                Jungkook’s bottom lip trembled. “No,” was all he said.

                After the effort of a lifetime, the two of them made it to the bathroom. Jungkook was already exhausted, and he collapsed to the floor with his back against the wall as soon as they arrived. The little first aid kit Jimin had procured wouldn’t be sufficient for the black eyes, the bloody head, the limp arm.

                “You need to go to a hospital—”

                “No! I can’t!”

                “What do you want me to do? Carry you home?”

                “I’ll manage. You’re too small.”

                “You little—! I would hit you if you weren’t bleeding your brains out right now!”

                A laugh. It made Jungkook laugh. Jimin couldn’t pretend like he was actually angry anymore, it was just too nice to see him not looking miserable anymore. But it was over in a moment, and a look of seriousness came to Jungkook’s eyes.

                “Hyung, you should know more than anyone. Why I can’t go to the hospital.”

                 There was nothing he could say to that, because Jungkook was right. But it was too upsetting to listen to. How had they all ended up like this? Wasn’t he making things worse? How could he take care of Jungkook right now? No, no, he couldn’t do anything.

                Jimin dug around his pockets procuring a dull pencil.

                “Jungkook-ah, do you have a piece of paper?

                “Um…”

                He found a crumpled handout for cram school in his back pocket and gave it to Jimin, who immediately began scribbling something down on the back.

                “Listen to me, Jungkookie,” he said, finishing and folding it sloppily. “I’m going to give you this, but, but if I do, I need you to promise me something first.”

                “What is—”

                “Just promise me! You’re done with Bul-ui Agma. You’re not going to beg for forgiveness, you’re not going to try to regain Shin Juyoung’s favor, and you’re never going to try to get back into their group again. Okay?”

                “Fine.”

                “Okay?!”

                “Okay, okay!”

                “I’m serious!”

                “I’m serious, too!”

                “Good.” Jimin stuffed the piece of paper into Jungkook’s hands. “You’ll find Yoongi at this address. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going, don’t let anyone follow you, and don’t drive all the way there. And most importantly, don’t tell Yoongi-hyung that I gave this to you.”

                “Why not?”

                “Just don’t, alright?”

                “Alright.”

                “Just look some old train boxcars until you see a little house made of metal with a lot of stuff around it. Follow the instructions if you get confused.”

                “But hyung…could you come with me? I—I—”

                “No. No, I hope this is the last time you have to see me. Stay away from me from now on, got it?”

                “But—”

                “I said, got it?”

                Jungkook sighed. “Got it.”

Author’s Note

I really need to peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

But first I need to finish this! Well, I don’t know what to say, so I guess I’ll just go and pee.

Oh wait! Yes, I will update again sometime this weekend hopefully. That’s what I was going to say.

Oh also! I realized while I was writing this that Jungkook hasn’t interacted with Jimin until this chapter, has he?

NOW I’m gonna go pee.